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Foreclosures continue to linger in Crow Wing County

Foreclosures in Crow Wing County, which have been up-and-down since the beginning of 2012, dropped in April.

The number of homes in foreclosure spiked from 17 in February to 36 in March before settling down to 22 foreclosures in April. But the notices of pendency, which indicate a foreclosure is coming, remain relatively elevated at 33.

In March there were 35 notices of likely foreclosures going into April. But compare that to the height of the housing market meltdown and the numbers look low. Go back to April of 2009 and the number of homeowners in the county in peril of losing their houses was at 73. In 2008, month after month ticked by with notices of an imminent foreclosure numbering in the 50s.

Compare that to 2001, when the entire county had just 39 foreclosures all year.

Foreclosures began rising quickly after posting 68 homes in 2004 to 101 homes the following year. By 2008, the number of foreclosures in a single year more than tripled from 2005 levels.

The highest foreclosure numbers in recorded county history came in 2010 with 388 foreclosures during the year.

Trying to find a solid trend hasn’t been simple. Crow Wing County Recorder Kathy Ludenia noted foreclosure numbers start to look good only to climb again. One month may post 28 foreclosures while the next month has 58 before they drop down to 16. At least, that was the pattern last year.

So how did April of 2012 compare with its 22 foreclosures and 33 potential ones in the pipeline? In April of 2010, there were 58 notices and 35 foreclosures. In 2011, there were 31 foreclosures and 29 notices of pending foreclosures. So it remains a mixed bag.

Richardson is a Pacelli High School graduate from Austin, Minn., who earned an applied science degree from the University of Minnesota, Waseca, with an emphasis in horse management. She worked extensively in the resort industry. She received an associate’s degree from Central Lakes College, where she was editor of the Westbank Journal student newspaper, as well as a summer intern at the Dispatch. She graduated from St. Cloud State University summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and interned at the St. Cloud Times covering business while attending SCSU. She's been with the Brainerd Dispatch since 1996.